


Space Heater

by DazzleYourMindsEye



Category: RWBY
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Mild Angst, Team Bonding, Writing Exercise, basically they use yang as a space heater, because she's literally hot, between volumes 1 and 2, mostly self-indulgent, this is spur of the moment, very mild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23256028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DazzleYourMindsEye/pseuds/DazzleYourMindsEye
Summary: When the heat goes out in the Beacon dorms one cold winter night, there's only one thing left to do.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 8
Kudos: 183
Collections: Bmblb





	Space Heater

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I hope y'all are doing okay during these uncertain times and everyone is washing their hands and staying safe!  
> This is a totally spur of the moment fic that I just thought of, but also a little bit of a writing exercise in writing for team JNPR, I'm just not as familiar with their dynamic. Especially because I'm planning on one of them having a semi-big role in Summer's Place. I won't tell you who ;)  
> Speaking of which, I promise I'm working on chapter 3 haha it's just slow going. This chapter is a bit bigger than usual and we are finally getting into the meat of the story.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad!”

“Says the ice princess from ATLAS.”

“Hey!”

Yang could see Blake’s ears twitch from where they peaked out from under the numerous blankets, but her partner didn’t otherwise respond to Weiss’s shrill voice.

“Relax, guys. Professor G-goodwitch says that they are gonna work on f-fixing it in the morning.” Ruby said, reading intently from her scroll from where she was on her own bunk, shivering beneath her blanket.

A groan came from the blanket cocoon on Blake’s bunk. As someone who grew up around snow in winter, even Yang could admit that it was cold. It was just their luck that the heating in the dorms would break during one of the coldest nights of the year. Heavy layers of snow blanketed Beacon’s campus (free ammo for intense snowball fights in between classes; Yang still had a bruise on her left butt cheek – Pyrrha had damn good aim) and the hot chocolate and soup flowed freely in the cafeteria.

Even with the window securely shut and the extra blankets handed out by staff, their dorm room was still uncomfortably cold. Blake seemed to be taking it the worst – she shook and shivered even with multiple layers, and refused to move from her blanket cocoon.

Weiss scoffed at Ruby. “Well, that’s not going to help! Apparently Blake’s going to freeze to death before they can fix it.”

A muffled grumble came from beneath the blankets. Yang leaned over from her top bunk and smirked. “What was that? We can’t hear you in there.”

Another grumble. The blankets shifted, but Blake still did not emerge.

A quiet knock sounded on the door and Ruby rolled off her bunk (“Stop doing that!” hissed Weiss as the ropes securing Ruby’s bed creaked ominously) and trudged over to open the door dragging her own blanket with her.

“Hello again!” Pyrrha poked her head in through the door, a bright red scarf almost matching her hair wrapped around her neck.

“Hey Pyrrha. What’s up?” said Ruby.

“I just wanted to check up on how you guys were doing. I don’t know about you but Nora’s ready to start burning furniture for warmth.” Pyrrha laughed. “I was just about to head down to the cafeteria for some soup. Do you want anything?”

“Coffee would be nice.” Weiss sat down on her bunk and tried to subtly rub her hands together, but Yang caught the motion and smirked.

“I thought you said it wasn’t that bad.”

Weiss’s mouth twisted into a scowl but she didn’t respond.

“Alright, coffee.” Pyrrha nodded. “Anything else?”

A muffled muttering came from the blanket cocoon on Blake’s bunk.

“We still can’t hear you Blake.” said Yang, hopping down from her own bunk.

The blankets were suddenly roughly shoved aside and Blake finally emerged, her eyebrows furrowed and cheeks flushed. “Can I get some soup please?”

Pyrrha let out a soft laugh. “Alright, coffee and soup. I’ll be back soon.”

Ruby gave her a tired thumbs up. But before she could close the door Yang called out. “You better watch your back tomorrow, Nikos. I’m still itchin’ for that rematch.”

Pyrrha’s smile turned sly. “I’m sure.”

“I mean it. You might find yourself with a snowball down your shirt. I have my ways.”

Pyrrha disappeared from their view as she left toward the cafeteria, but her laugh echoed back down the hallway. “You could try.”

Ruby closed the door firmly and started to stuff her blanket along the bottom to try to keep the colder air of the hallway from creeping in.

Blake had disappeared back under her blanket, with just the tips of her ears still poking out of the top.

_She probably hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t wearing the bow_ thought Yang as she watched her partner.

It had taken some coaxing, but after the events of last semester she had finally convinced Blake that she didn’t need to wear it when it was just them in the dorm after a quiet confession that the bow got itchy after hours of wearing it. Ever since then they had all noticed a different side of Blake.

When she wasn’t wearing her bow Blake seemed… more open somehow. She was more inclined to join in on conversations and share her own opinion. She had a quick, cutting sense of humor that they had only caught glimpses of before.

_At least she and Weiss are getting along better_ thought Yang. Even though they had caught Weiss staring at Blake’s ears once or twice, Weiss seemed to be making an effort. The two girls seemed to be more alike than they had thought at first. Yang had even walked in and found the two of them in a study session together. It had looked like Blake was quietly going over the finer details of a historical event that they had covered in Oobleck’s class that day, and Weiss was nodding along. Weiss had made some dry quip, and Blake threw her head back and laughed. Yang remembered how the light from the open window caught on the dark strands on her hair and highlighted faint traces of dark brown. That moment certainly wasn’t the first time she’d really noticed how **pretty** Blake was, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Yang shook herself from the memory and sat down on Blake’s bunk next to the blanket cocoon that was her partner. She grasped what she thought was Blake’s calf and gently squeezed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

The cocoon wiggled, and Blake’s yellow eyes peered above the edge of the blanket. She sighed. Her words were slightly muffled, but Yang could still make them out.

“Yeah. I’ll be okay. I’m just… not used to this, is all.”

Blake hadn’t been exactly forthcoming about her past or where she was from, but Yang could guess it was probably somewhere sunny and warm.

“Well, I might have an idea.” Yang said turning toward the rest of the room. “Ruby! Punch me!”

Ruby’s eyes brightened, and she lunged across the room without a word and slugged her sister in the shoulder, hard.

Blake raised the rest of her head from the blankets in confusion. “What’re you… _oh._ ”

With a shimmer of golden light Yang activated her semblance, her hair lighting up bright, a warm glow spreading across the room like the sun itself had taken pity on them and paid a visit. Warmth almost instantly filled the room, radiating off Yang’s skin like she was a space heater. Ruby sighed with contentment, and even Weiss let out a quiet “oh _my_ ” in response.

“Ruby and I used to do this whenever the heating didn’t work back home.” said Yang, plopping down on the floor and opening up her arms. “Come on everybody, get in.”

Ruby gleefully embraced her sister around the waist and snuggled in. Blake looked a little uncertain, but the radiating warmth proved to be too tempting and she crawled out from to her bunk to tuck under Yang’s arm. Yang pulled her in close and felt her partner let out a deep sigh and finally relax, pressing herself firmly against Yang’s side. Yang thought she seemed to fit there perfectly.

Weiss frowned from across the room. “You’re going to burn through your aura eventually.”

Yang rolled her eyes. “Just get in here, Weiss.”

Weiss furrowed her brow but got on her knees and crawled over. Ruby slung an arm around her waist when she got close and pulled her in. Weiss was definitely colder than she would ever have admitted, because she didn’t protest.

They all sat on the floor for a long time just enjoying finally being warm and were only interrupted by Pyrrha, returning from her journey to the cafeteria with thermoses of coffee and soup. Her nose was red and her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes widened when she entered the room. A tentative question later, and soon all of JNPR was piling in for a sleepover.

“Whew, thanks. Our window’s latch is broken.” Nora lamented as she plopped down on the floor with her pillow.

“And who’s fault is that?” said Ren dryly.

“I was just testing the security of the windows, Ren.” said Nora. “And aren’t you glad we now know that the latch won’t hold under pressure?”

“Under pressure?” said Jaune in disbelief. “You literally threw a chair at it. We’re lucky the whole thing didn’t shatter.”

Yang watched their friends continue their argument from her place on the floor. Her hair had faded but warmth still radiated off her skin, raising the temperature of the room to an actual livable degree. Blake squirmed against her side, and Yang looked down to see Blake turning her head and pinning her ears down. Yang squeezed her side. “Are you okay? You can put it back on if you want...”

“No.” Blake’s voice was firm, despite how nervous she looked. “No, I’m fine.”

None of their guests even looked twice at Blake, and slowly she started to relax. Yang squeezed her again.

* * *

Eventually when the heat kicked back on somewhere around 5 in the morning, everyone had fallen fast asleep in a big tangle on the floor. Blake stirred awake and found herself still snuggled tight against Yang’s side. She glanced up and met Pyrrha’s eyes as the other girl picked her way across the room to leave for her usual morning jog. Pyrrha gave her a smile and a thumbs up as she quietly closed the door behind her.

The heat of Yang’s semblance had faded into her usual temperature, but it was more than enough to lull Blake back to sleep with a small smile on her face.


End file.
